Japan by bullet train: Tokyo to Hiroshima

When to go

Spring and autumn are the best seasons: the cherry blossom in late March and early April, and the red maples of Kyoto in November. They are also the dearest, and Kyoto is full; so are Golden Week at the turn of April and May, the Obon holidays in mid-August and the New Year. June into July is the rainy season, July and August are hot and humid, and late summer is typhoon season, when a storm can stop the trains for a day. Mount Fuji hides in cloud much of the summer; it is seen most clearly on the cold, dry mornings from late autumn to early spring.

The stops

Interactive map of the route on our site ›

1. Tokyo2 nights

   The red-brick Marunouchi building of Tokyo Station, designed by Tatsuno Kingo, opened in 1914. Its domes burned in the air raids of 1945, and only in 2012 was it restored to its original three storeys.

2. Shin-Fujistop on the way

   Around this station the Shinkansen runs closest to Mount Fuji, 3,776 metres high, the highest mountain in Japan. Since 2013 it has been a World Heritage site, listed as a sacred place and a source of art.

3. Shizuokaone night

   Tokugawa Ieyasu, who unified Japan, spent his last years at Sunpu Castle here and died in 1616. He was first buried at Kunozan Toshogu, a shrine reached by ropeway from the Nihondaira hill, which looks across the bay to Mount Fuji.

4. Sekigaharastop on the way

   The Shinkansen runs through the valley of the battle of Sekigahara, fought in October 1600, in which Ieyasu defeated his rivals; three years later he became shogun, and his family ruled Japan until 1868.

5. Kyoto3 nights

   The capital of Japan from 794 to 1868, with some two thousand temples and shrines. In 1945 it was on the list of targets for the atomic bomb, and the American Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, had it removed.

6. Narastop on the way

   About 45 minutes from Kyoto by train, the capital before Kyoto, from 710 to 784. The Great Buddha of Todai-ji sits in one of the largest wooden buildings in the world, and the deer of the park, held sacred, walk freely among the visitors.

7. Osaka2 nights

   Half an hour from Kyoto by the JR special rapid. Osaka Castle was begun by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1583; the keep that stands today is a concrete reconstruction of 1931, paid for by donations from the people of the city.

8. Shin-Kobestop on the way

   In 1940 and 1941 thousands of Jewish refugees from Lithuania, holding the transit visas signed by the Japanese consul Chiune Sugihara, reached Kobe, and the small Jewish community of the port took care of them. Kobe still has a synagogue.

9. Himejistop on the way

   Half an hour from Shin-Osaka; leave the bags in the station lockers. The White Heron Castle has its original keep of 1609, which survived the bombing of the city in 1945, and in 1993 it was among the first World Heritage sites in Japan.

10. Hiroshima2 nights

    At 8:15 on 6 August 1945 the first atomic bomb used in war exploded over the city. The Atomic Bomb Dome, built in 1915 to a design by the Czech architect Jan Letzel, stood almost below the blast and was left as it was; the Peace Memorial Museum is beside it.

11. Miyajimastop on the way

    Half an hour by JR train to Miyajimaguchi and ten minutes on the JR ferry. The Itsukushima Shrine stands on piles over the sea, and at high tide its great torii, the present one of 1875, seems to float; since October 2023 the island charges every visitor a small entry tax.

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What it costs

Eighty dollars a night is the room. The train tickets are yours and are not included. The honest sum on the Japan Rail Pass: on 1 October 2023 its price rose sharply, the 7-day ordinary pass from 29,650 to 50,000 yen. For this route, one way from Tokyo to Hiroshima with the short hops to Nara and Miyajima, single Shinkansen tickets usually add up to less than the 7-day pass; the pass pays only if you also travel back to Tokyo or go much further. Compare the fares for your own days before you buy. Single tickets are sold at the JR stations and on the JR websites, with a reserved seat or an unreserved one for less. The ferry to Miyajima, the ropeway in Shizuoka and the entry to the castles and temples are paid separately.

What to know

Three things. One: the luggage. On the Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen a suitcase whose length, width and height add up to more than 160 centimetres needs a seat booked with the oversized baggage space, or you pay a fee on board; and the simplest answer is to send the big case ahead by takkyubin, the door-to-door delivery that every hotel desk arranges, and travel with a small bag. Two: the seats. Reserve them when the trains are full, at the cherry blossom and on holidays; the rest of the year the unreserved cars are usually enough. Three: the view. Westbound from Tokyo, Mount Fuji is on the right, so ask for seat E.

Roads, tolls and rules

This route has no car. It follows the first bullet-train line in the world, the Tokaido Shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka, opened on 1 October 1964, and then the Sanyo Shinkansen west to Hiroshima. The longest leg, Shizuoka to Kyoto, is under two hours, so every day leaves most of its hours for the towns. Be honest with yourself about the rooms: Japanese business hotels at eighty dollars are common, but the rooms are small and the double bed is often a narrow semi-double; and in Tokyo and Kyoto in the cherry-blossom weeks and in November such a room is rare, and when none is free the site offers two flats at that price instead.

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